What I Go To School For
by freefallinginlove
Summary: New Neighbour, New Teacher, New Girl Next Door. He didn't know one could be the other until she moved in. Armed with devastating looks and the uncanny ability to fail, he sets out to prove he's worth her time. In school, or Out of it. AH/OOC M - Later
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: No. No I don't own it. No I don't earn from it, but YES! My Plot! *evil laugh* . _

_Buongiourno. Yes, that is spelled wrong, and yes, I apologise to any natives who are offended by it. Perhaps my GCSE teachers (god, that was a while), would have been better at teaching me how to spell? Hmm... indeed. _

_Moving on. _

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_**Prologue**_

They had been consistently silent together, preferring to sit and wait as comfortably as they could in such an uncomfortable room, rather than pressing the matter of their discomfort by voicing it out loud.

Coffee cups had been easily drained, then filled, then slowly drained again, though he could no longer bear the strong, bitter taste of the liquid from the crappy machine, coupled with the slow, soft smell of her perfume. He thought a little about the homework that he had left on his desk, piling up on the varnished wood, and thought a hell of a lot about the woman beside him. Her hands flicked open and closed as she stressed over the situation, biting her bottom lip over and over as she tried to fight the electricity in the air. It was so strong that it hurt.

"We're keeping her in." Her head snapped to the boy beside her.

"It doesn't look good," He leaned against her and laid his hand on her leg.

She took a deep breath and fought the desire to steal her boy away from the madness that was revolving around them. His mother lay in the hospital, maybe dying, maybe not, and all she could think of was stealing him away? It was pathetic.

"Jasper..." She lost her words to a sigh and felt him lean into her. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders in the silence. It was a comfort, really, to know she was there, warm and solid – a body he knew, he trusted, he wanted but could not have.

His hand found hers as she sat, running her thumb lightly across his collarbone and holding his shoulder, squeezing tightly as his fingers touched the back of her hand. Her response, a reflexive twitch to reassure him she was there, made him smile for half a second, maybe not even that. She sighed and his eyes fluttered closed as his head fell against her chest, feeling the rhythmic rise and fall of it and loving it, needing it, holding onto it.

"Jasper?" She tried again a couple of minutes later, a few seconds into the silence – or maybe it was hours, time as a concept had collapsed away and he didn't recognise it any longer.

In response to her words, he made a soft, non-committal noise and nodded slowly into her skin, into her shirt.

"It's..." She took a long, deep breath and bowed her head to his, her hair a curtain from the world that left them in their own tiny bubble. "You know it's all going to be okay, right?" She tilted her head and brushed her lips against his cheek. He let out a long sigh and opened his eyes to her, electric blue irises locking with hers for the longest time. Slowly, he nodded, letting out another sigh and trying so hard to be brave, be strong for everyone – for her, for his mother... for himself.

"I know," He whispered, "But... it's hard, you know?" He was surprised at the way his own voice broke, cracking midway through his words.

"I know, kiddo," She laced her hands in his shaggy, explosive, unruly blonde hair, and let him lean his head against her, let him hold on. _He needed her._ It was _her_, he knew, and she knew in her heart of hearts, that it was _him_. "Do you want to come home with me tonight? I'll look after you, you know?" He bit his lip, wondering if he could make it through the night with just a simple wall between them. They sighed collectively, and biting her lip, she ducked her head again, this time looking away, out of the stone cold window to a grey and depressing night.

"Yes," He paused, "Please, miss."

He hadn't called her that in six months, and it was this retreat that terrified her more than anything. Just as she had taken to calling him 'Kiddo' to keep him in line in the classroom, he had responded by calling her every name under the sun but her own, a small price to pay for the friendship that had been formed by neighbourly dinners, broken fences and the tutoring she had offered when he had lost it completely.

Biting her lip once more, and bowing her head to stare at her shoes, she rose, quickly finding the doctor in charge of Emilia Whitlock's case. Jasper sighed, rubbing his eyes as he watched her, lips pressed together in a tight, furious line. She couldn't leave him, he couldn't cope with that. Not tonight.

"He'll be safe," He heard her speaking to Carlisle Cullen, "Ms. Whitlock won't need to panic, she knows me, and she knows I'll look after him."

"Emilia knows you?" He nodded, "The neighbour, I believe?"

"Yes sir." She smiled, tossing her hair over her shoulder and pulling it back into a bun that Jasper knew, recognised and loved.

"I'll let you take him, then."

Nodding, smiling and shaking like a leaf, she grinned and returned to Jasper, who sat curled up, silent on the plastic seat, eyes closed and his head dropped to his chest.

"Hey," She sat down beside him, "Kiddo?" He glanced up and stared at her for a fraction of a second, "Jasper, honey?" Her hand touched his face and the speed that his head snapped to attention, to stare straight into her eyes was almost whiplash-inducing. She winced at it herself, though she hadn't felt a thing.

"Y-yes, Bella?" She smiled at his response.

"I'm going to take you home," She whispered softly, "Are... you okay?"

"Can we go?" A small pause where he looked down at his hands sadly, not wanting to be apart from her, "I have keys, you can drop me off and then-"

"I'm looking after you, Jasper." She held out her hand, and before she could blink, he had wrapped his palm around hers, "I promise you, Kiddo, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

But as she pulled the door between the ward and the real world open, and for a half-second, his hand slipped from hers, she realised that Jasper wasn't really a kid any more.

_It terrified and thrilled her, both at the same time._

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**Please to Review?**

**Much love ...**

**Xxx**

**Oh, the rambling. I've not been well. I've been working on another fic – "Rowers on the River" in collab with Mouse 555 (On both our profiles, do check it out, she's awesome.) as well as this, which smacked me in the face while I was, unfortunately, not making out with a hottie, AND "39 Reasons..." Which I will hopefully update tonight or tomorrow. If I don't die in the meantime. **


	2. First Sight

_Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or the characters. I own a "Wreck this Journal" Journal, which saves my notebooks from being destroyed though. It's awesome. _

_Uhhuh, A.N at the bottom, Enjoy this one. _

_xx_

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_**First Sight**_

"Bella Swan," He repeated flatly back to his mother, blinking slowly. She nodded, a small smile lighting her face. "Who?"

"She's just moved in next door, hon. I think it might be nice for someone to go 'round and say hello, don't you?" His mother smiled up at him and he felt his resolve waver.

"Why don't we both go?" A small pause where Jasper tried to say everything he could think of with a simple blink or glare – _I don't like new people! What if she's horrible? I don't want to go alone- _"It might be nice."

"I met her this morning – lovely lady," And at that, Jasper was hit by a horrific vision of a wrinkled old woman who smelled like lavender and kept cats and potpourri on every surface. He didn't want to have to meet that alone.

"_Mum_-" He tried whining, but no matter how frail his mother was, she was most certainly not going to let this one drop.

"_Jasper_, you're going." She would have stamped her foot had her wheelchair allowed it, Jasper was sure, "Take the flowers that're on the table in the kitchen with you, she'll like those." And the matter was, quite officially, dead.

Grumbling and muttering the more creative profanities in his vocabulary, Jasper shoved his hands deep into his pockets and strode through to the kitchen. They had never had net curtains on the kitchen window, preferring simply to let the pure, unadulterated sunlight into the room, and today was probably the first day he was glad to have the ability to both see out of the window and into next door's garden. The fence between the houses had been broken by a marauding Alsatian six months ago, and they had yet to replace it – something which Jasper's mother had been meaning to let the next tenants know. It was that missing space that left Jasper to stare upon what he considered to be the prettiest view he had ever seen.

A new set of wooden garden chairs had been put out on the raised deck, and a young woman, who Jasper immediately assumed to be Bella Swan's daughter, was sat curled up on the hard wood bottom step, staring out at the garden. Jasper smirked wildly to himself as he took in the pretty girl, who looked no older than twenty, though it slid wildly off his face as she was summoned by an unknown noise and disappeared around the corner, only to return lugging a table with a young, bronze-haired man who could only be her boyfriend. His fears were thoroughly compounded when she wrapped her arms around him and he kissed her cheek, closing his eyes as he rested his chin on top of her head. The moment was clearly too much for the woman, however, as she jabbed him hard in the ribs and he sprang away from her, rubbing his side and laughing raucously at the same time.

Moving toward the door, and pulling it open as quietly and surreptitiously as possible, Jasper moved to the side, out of the way to listen to the conversation that was echoing through the garden and now, into the house.

"Edward! If I've told you once, I've told you a million times!"

"Oh, come on, gorgeous," He laughed, bending forward to press his palms to his knees in an attempt to stay upright, "You know I'm only messing with you."

"Hmm." She sounded sceptical, but let it drop either way, moving around to the table and shifting it tiredly around the deck. "Well, Eddie," She seemed to take great pleasure in the way it infuriated him, "Thank you for helping move us in," Her accent, faintly northern, was pretty enough for Jasper to want to follow her around for the next three years of his life instead of heading off to university, or something like that. "And I'll call you when the housewarming's happening? You can bring Alice and everything?" She smiled, and his eyes lit up happily.

"Course, love. Do you want me to hang about a little bit longer? Help you sort out some of the boxes?" She shook her head and laughed, waiting for the innuendo that everyone listening knew was coming, "Maybe help you make your bed?"

"I'll kill you, Edward Masen!" She rushed at him, holding nothing in her hands but an imaginary slasher-knife. He laughed loudly, going as far as to fall down the stairs backwards and land on his backside on the lawn. "Ha! Ha!" She laughed aloud, and Jasper couldn't help but laugh along with her, far louder than he had intended to, "Got you right where I want you!"

They tussled stupidly for a while, Jasper still watching through the window, and growing slightly more jealous than he had ever thought he could be over a girl, lips curving into a smile as she finally watched _Edward Masen_ go out of the side gate. Closing the door again, he watched her close up the gate, locking it and curling back up in the June sunshine on the bottom step, hugging her knees to herself and looking left and right to the other houses in the street.

She looked so lonely that he wanted desperately to cross the threshold into the garden, wander into the dying light and introduce himself, ask her in for coffee and present her with flowers, but he wondered if he would scare her by doing just that. As he stood with his hand on the handle, his brain apparently set on following through with his insane whims, he shook his head and cleared his thoughts.

Then he decided that yes, he was going to head out, and to knock on her door, just to say hello.

"I'll be back in a little while, ma!" He yelled into the house at large, hoping that his mother would cope without him to make dinner and tugging awkwardly on his jeans and t-shirt, in the hopes that he looked presentable enough to meet the pretty girl and her mother in the house next door. He clutched the flowers tightly in his left hand, not even noticing that he was crushing them, and stumbled out of the door, tossing his keys up and down in his right hand quite nervously, muttering the words he hoped to say, rather than sounding like an absolute idiot by letting any unpractised words spill from his mouth as he stood at their front door.

He raised his hand to knock, and every word left his head as the three thuds he left echoed through the house. Silence reigned for a long minute, and he wondered whether he should just turn around and go back home, actually making a one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn before a voice stunned him out of his wits.

"Hello?" He stumbled and nearly fell off the porch steps. "Oh! Hello!" It was her.

"H-hi..." He thrust the flowers at her, "Theserferyou." He could feel his face heating up, and she knew hers was bright pink and probably nearly exploding with colour.

"I-I'm sorry?" He looked up at her and saw that she was biting her lip. His eyes, locked with hers, spoke volumes to her as well. "Can I help you?"

"I..." He laughed nervously, feeling as though he was twelve, "I'm sorry; I get a little bit silly when I'm nervous. I'm Jasper Whitlock. I live next door." Her eyes widened in realisation and her mouth dropped open, and he really wanted to lift her over his shoulder and take her away somewhere to shag her senseless.

"Oh! Right, would you like to come in?" She blushed again and he shrugged, "Please, do." Stepping aside, she looked him up and down and hoped she looked fairly presentable. He was, though she didn't want to admit it, completely gorgeous, though he was definitely younger than her twenty-two and three-quarter years. "Come on," she managed to laugh, "I don't bite."

"Is your mother in?" He managed to stumble over the words as she led him into a half-furnished kitchen, boxes strewn all over the place and nowhere really to place a decent bunch of flowers in water. He hadn't been expecting her to grab the sideboard and stare at him, tears of laughter in her eyes wide and smiling.

"My mother?" She asked, a quiet giggle escaping her. "Why would Renee be here, J-Jackson, is it?" She stumbled, even though she knew perfectly well that his name was Jasper.

"Jasper." He reiterated, and she smiled at him. "I-I thought, you know... you don't look old enough to be living on your own."

"What? I'm... I must be older than you?" She smiled, "Nearly twenty three."

"Blimey, girl." He laughed lightly, "I thought... you..." Shaking his head, he backtracked, "Let me start that one again." He left the room and she watched after him, a little more than confused, "It's nice to meet you, Bella. I'm Jasper Whitlock; I live with my mother next door."

"Oh! Jasper! It's nice to meet you!" She faked surprise and he laughed aloud, "Are those for me?"

"Yeah, I hope you like them..." He paused, "Ma made me bring them over." A dark blush overtook his features, and she watched him for a long minute, trying to decide whether he was going to pass her the flowers and run away, or something.

"They're beautiful." She whispered, taking the flowers and feeling the tiny electric shock surge through her fingers as they brushed against his. His gaze flickered to her hand, then back up at her, "Thank you, Jasper." A small smile shared between them. "Would you like a drink, or something?"

"I shouldn't-" Pausing for a second, he reconsidered. He would be alone in this house, with the prettiest girl he knew, for quite a while. "But hey, what've I got to lose?"

_Only my heart, _he thought, as she turned away, pulled her hair from the bun it had been in and shook her hair out, sighing into relaxation as she leaned forward on the counter and stretched back. To say his thoughts were less than pure as he watched her stretch out and arch her back would be an understatement; thoughts of ruining the kitchen table and possibly smashing every glass in the cabinet in the corner were at the forefront of his mind. He watched her intently as she reached up into a cupboard and pulled down two glasses, then glanced away as she looked over at him, smiling.

She wasn't stupid; she knew he had been watching her by the blush that rose in his cheeks and to the tips of his ears as they edged out of the mess of hair that was all over his face.

"Do you want hot, or cold, Jasper?" She smiled again, glancing up at him as he stood awkwardly in the midst of boxes and things. He shrugged and muttered that he was easy, he would have what she was having, but was stunned as she pulled out a bottle from yet another cupboard. "You're old enough to drink, right?"

She laughed, but internally, she was screaming _'please say yes! Please, say yes!' _and a weight lifted from her heart when he nodded and she smiled.

"Whaddya say we have our own little housewarming party?" She bit her bottom lip and looked up at him, though he was hardly thinking what she was. "Coconut Rum, Lemonade?"

"Sounds good," He managed to squeeze from his lips, as he stood still, watching her movements as she span around to find the lemonade and the glasses clinked in her fingers. "Do you need a hand?" He stepped closer to her, and reached around her before she could protest, pressing himself up against her for just a little bit too long. She thanked him and told him he could have a seat wherever he wanted, though, once again, Jasper thought about telling her where she could sit.

_And meaning it. _

They sat in silence for a while, after retreating out onto the back deck and sitting on the chairs Jasper had seen Edward and her bringing in earlier on in the afternoon. It was all quiet, until the pair began to speak as one.

"Would you like a hand putting everything away, this weekend, Bella? I'm pretty sure I can find the time to help you out-"

"What do you do with yourself, Jaspe-"

She burst out laughing and he bowed his head to his chest, somewhat embarrassed about the whole thing. He had been sitting on the offer for the better part of the minutes they had been sitting together, if only to use it as a plot to find out what she would be doing at the weekend. He also hadn't expected her to ask what he did, approximately half an hour after meeting him. It was quite nice to be treated as an adult, after all.

"You first, Jasper, sorry!" She let out a soft laugh, one that Jasper decided he would refer to as the _'uncomfortable-chuckle' _for the rest of time. "What did you say?"

"I said," He paused, "I just wondered whether you'd want some help getting everything put away – you look like you've got a fair amount of random furniture and boxes and stuff... I wondered if you wanted some company getting everything set?" He phrased it as a question, then looked over at her after sipping his drink.

"Thank you." She smiled softly, "My mum's going to come over tomorrow, but I doubt we'll get anything done. She wants to paint a couple of walls before we do get the bedroom set... and then there's a whole mess of shelves that I want to put up..." She stopped again, wondering if she sounded as though she really wanted him to do all the DIY for her, but his ponderous silence made her speak once again, "I guess if you really wanted to help, you could come over on Friday night and help me get a load of books up on the shelves and organise my cupboards?"

"Friday night?" He grinned again and looked up into her eyes, "That would be okay with you?" She nodded brightly and sipped her drink, "You're sure?"

"Hell, Jasper, if you weren't interested, I'm not going to force you."

"No! No, I just really didn't want to get in your way!" She shook her head at him, rolling her eyes and laughing lightly. "Seriously!"

"You wouldn't be!" Another pause, "_Seriously!_ I'm about as useful as a chocolate fireguard when it comes to organisation." She laughed again and looked at her watch quickly. "Oh! Damn, Jasper, it's nearly half-past seven..." She looked up at him, "I'm afraid I really haven't got anything to offer you for dinner – I'd love to have you, but I didn't really intend on having guests..." A pause, where Jasper realised that he probably should go home and cook, his mother wouldn't be able to, not today. "I'll see you on Friday though?"

"Of course," He grinned again, "I don't think I could miss it for the world." He paused again, and she really did regret not being able to keep him longer. Her lips found his cheek as he rose to go, and she found it didn't feel awkward like it had with Jacob, at uni, or Aaron, only months ago. "I can take these in, if you'd like?"

"No," She smiled, something she hadn't done so frequently in a while, "It's fine. You go home, get your mother some dinner, yeah?" She smiled again, waving him off and immediately feeling her muscles slacken as he turned his back and left, the grin falling from her face as the sense of loneliness and tiredness returned to her, after a free hour of company and fun.

She watched his retreating back as he thought to stride through the house, then changed his mind at the last minute and wandered through her garden, across her lawn, through the gap in their broken fence, and pushed on the kitchen door. He looked across at her as it opened, a small smile still playing about his lips, his fingers wrapping around the doorframe as he stared over at her and waved across, grinning, before disappearing into his home, and flicking the kitchen light on.

As Bella stumbled into her own house, narrowly avoiding falling over the step that led out into the garden, or, for her, back into the empty hallway, she pulled the French patio doors closed, and meandered slowly into the kitchen to wash up the two glasses, setting them on the side by the kettle to keep them for tomorrow. She sighed as she stepped slowly around the house, not intending to eat because she simply didn't _feel_ hungry, and found herself standing in her bedroom, looking out of the window at the darkened window across the small alley between their houses, and wondering if Jasper was staring into the abyss between them too.

She would never know whether he was standing there, his right arm crossed over his chest with the other hand wrapped into his hair, tugging at it and questioning his sanity as he wondered whether the woman he had spent the evening with would even consider giving him a second glance, with the dark eyes that were burned so thoroughly into his brain, haunting him even as he blinked.

"Jasper?!" His mother called him and he turned around, to look at the empty hallway, "Honey, are you alright?"

There was a long silence, and his hands finally left the tangled mess of hair that he had been clutching for almost an hour. He looked at his calendar and realised that it would only be two days. _He could make it two days._

"Yeah, thanks, mum... I think I'm good."

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_**Allo! Bonjour! – That's spelled right, I'm sure. **_

_**So, yes, I hope you enjoyed, and thank you to those who reviewed le prologue and put me on faves or alerts, because that's very, very nice of you, and you guys have made me write faster. The more people review, it's my proverbial "I like to buy notebooks" addiction. **_

_**Do review, and honestly, I really quite enjoy this story. I hope you do too.**_


	3. Never Got The Hang Of Thursday

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, but I do own a lot of ice cream, in an attempt to beat down my sore throat... **_

_**Thankyou so much for the response, the review (note no plural, hinthint) and the fave-ing. **_

_**Hope you enjoy this chapter – part of it was written on painkillers ; ) **_

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_**Never Got The Hang of Thursday**_

Thursday morning came and Bella woke bright and... late, having slept for ten hours, much longer than she had originally intended. The light was streaming in her window, through the slim net curtains, and her fingers were curled around the pillow as though she was holding onto someone for dear life. She recalled for a moment the blonde boy in her dreams, and reluctantly released the pillow, feeling the soft linen sliding from between her fingers.

As she sat up, shaking her head slightly, The walls were ringing, an incessant sound and grating tinny sound in her ears. She groaned as the last vestiges of sleep blew out of her brain and she realised that it was her phone, braying in her ear for god-knows-how-long. Scrambling around for it, and at the same time remembering the positively fantastic evening she had spent with her next door neighbour's son.

"Jasper?" She murmured into the receiver, though in her head she faintly remembered _not_ giving him her number.

"And who would that be?" She cringed and let out a whimper as her mother's cheerful voice echoed through her brain. "Bella? Honey?" Bella kept her mouth closed for as long as she possibly could.

"What time are you going to be over, mum? We said eleven, right? I'll tell you then." She rolled back over and her eyes caught the time on the clock. "Aww, shit!" _It was already ten past eleven. _"Are you here already, mum?"

"I'm sitting on your driveway. I have been for the best part of twenty minutes, because _somebody_ wouldn't wake up when I knocked." Bella rolled her eyes, knowing her mother would be doing exactly the same on the other end of the line.

"Well, fine, mum," She stopped and stretched, practically rolling out of bed and into her slippers as she stumbled and tripped her way down the stairs, "I'm coming in about twenty seconds," She said, and opened the front door to a mother who looked distinctly unimpressed with the sheepish smile on Bella's face, and a view which would forever make her smile.

Jasper was leaning over car in next door's driveway. The red hood was popped and he most definitely wasn't wearing a shirt as he leaned over the engine and then straightened up and stretched, in all his toned, somewhat tanned glory, as he looked over at her house and waved, smiling brightly as he saw her standing in the doorway. There was a silence in the whole street as he stared her up and down, clearly appraising her clothes.

That was when she remembered what she usually wore to bed – the cut-off, old flannel pyjama shorts, and the skinny camisole that had probably ridden up to her navel from her hurried unlocking of the door. She blushed and tried frantically to cover herself without either Jasper or her mother noticing, but laughed as he copied her swift movements behind her mother's back.

"Morning, Bella!" He called as Bella's mother finally looked over at him, quickly padding over to his tool box and pulling his shirt from the top of it, shrugging it onto his chest as he made his way across the tarmac, and into her drive. "Hi, I'm Jasper Whitlock," He thrust his hand out and grinned at the older woman as she stood, looking at him, almost appraising him up and down with a small smile. "You must be Bella's mother?" She nodded and took his hand, shaking it firmly.

"That I am, Jasper. Renee Swan, it's nice to meet you." He nodded with a quiet 'likewise', and for a minute, they watched each other, then he turned to Bella and grinned, pulling at his shirt like the awkward schoolboy he still, technically, was.

"Bella, is there anything I can get for you when I go out? I've got to get some shopping, did you need any basics? Milk? Bread? Butter?" Bella heard her mother mutter something as she stepped past her into the house, but she would worry and wonder about what she said later, because he was standing in front of her. She smiled, and told him she had everything but milk and tea.

"I don't mean to be a burden, though," She said, as he grinned and wrote it down on his hand with the pen he always kept in his pocket, "Really, I can go out tomorrow and get it."

"And cut down on your DIY time? I want all of Friday afternoon with you, Bella," He laughed, "You'll need to get everything sorted by then, trust me." He grinned again and smiled at her as she shook her head.

"You'll soon find out I'm a complete Do-It-Yourself-Disaster." She laughed, running a hand through her bird's-nest hair. "Thank you, Jasper," She looked up at him and grinned, "I'll see you later with the shopping? Just let me know prices, and I'll have the money ready for you when you get back." For a second, she hoped her subtle hint would be enough to get him to ask for her number. _If he had any clue, that is. _After a moment or two of silence, she turned to go back inside, and was internally cursing her lack of transparency.

"Hey! Wait, Bella..." He stopped and his eyes widened as she turned to him, quirking an eyebrow, "I'll need your number, if I'm going to let you know, right?" He smiled to himself, pretty confident that was what she had been thinking, but cringing because he wasn't _quite _sure.

"Of course," She nodded, and held out her hand for a pen. She wrote her number quickly onto his forearm, then bid him farewell and closed the door, leaning against it and catching sight of her face in the mirror she had thought to hang up across the hallway. She sighed and rubbed at her eyes tiredly. "Ugh, I look like the cat threw up on me." _Though of course, she didn't have a cat._

"That you do." Renee's voice made Bella start as she tugged at the knots in her hair. "Well, I see you've made a friend, at least?" But Bella refused to turn around, able to resist her mother's raised eyebrow in the mirror, but knowing that if she looked over and into her eyes, she would be unable to keep her mouth shut. "Bella..." She warned lightly, "Tell me, or I'll call _him_ back and interrogate the poor boy."

"Thanks, Ma. Just give me the confidence to tell you, why don't you?" A pause where Bella glanced back at her mother and smiled lightly, "Anyway, I only met him yesterday, no need for the Spanish Inquisition just yet." She rolled her eyes, and Renee did the same, sighing at her daughter.

"Shower," She said simply, "Get dressed, and come back down here, I'll have coffee ready for you, dear. I think you need it."

"Mhh." Bella nodded, then looked over at her mother, and smiled, "I'll be fifteen minutes." And she strode upstairs in an attempt to get out from under her mother's inquisitorial gaze.

Twenty-nine minutes later, Renee was starting to worry about her daughter. She hadn't appeared from her bathroom or her bedroom, and, there didn't appear to be any sign of her anywhere.

"Bella?!" There was a loud bang from upstairs and Renee practically flew to find her, "What the hell?"

"Sorry! Boxes!" She called, her mother finding her clutching her towel to her chest and pressing her head into her hands, shaking with laughter. As Renee stepped into Bella's bedroom, she watched her daughter, then happened to glance up at the window, noticing the room just opposite. One room was black, with a white design splashed across one corner, the other side was done the same way, but the colours were inverted. Bella probably hadn't noticed yet – Renee knew her daughter well enough to know that she was not that observant, but that in the end she would work out that the room across the way belonged to Jasper, and that Jasper wasn't as old as he actually seemed. "I'm useless, mum; seriously, I should get a tattoo with a biohazard logo, or something."

"Hmm," Renee looked over at her daughter and smiled lightly, but condescendingly, "Or something indeed." She tugged lightly on the open curtains, "First thing, I think we'll get net curtains up on the windows, no?"

"Sounds like a plan, didn't you want to paint everything though?" Bella looked up at her mother through her eyelashes, keeping her eyes trained on her mother as she stood. Renee had always been flighty and had a very short attention span, but Bella had assumed that this, as her daughter's first, and most likely _only_ home, would be something Renee would be very interested in.

"Well, I don't think we need to paint that wall, do we?" Her mother arched her eyebrow and looked at Bella with alarm bubbling under the surface, "I mean, really, it's nice as it is, especially if we finish the other walls with the same colour." She waved her hand brightly, "So, a fashion of navy blue, with the pale blue accents on the surface on that wall, and then the same sort of thing there..."

But Bella had stopped listening as her mother continued, and continued, and continued. It took her longer to finish her rambling than it did for Bella to get dressed and find the box with the net curtains in it. She interrupted her mother's stylish fantasies and looked over at her, grinning and holding up the mess of white curtain material.

"Ready? Then we can go out and get the paint and things, right?" There was silence from Renee, who had just noticed Jasper cross the threshold into his room, looking, quite clearly for something. She turned to Bella and nodded, before bending over the box and deliberately distracting her daughter from the goings-on across the way. "Mum?"

"Yeah, Bella, sorry," Renee shook her head a little, "Just fantasising..." Bella looked at her mother.

"You're surely not thinking about Jasper?" A short pause, where they looked at each other, and Renee's hesitance was most certainly not a good thing in Bella's book. "Mum! He's young enough to be your son!" Silence, then Renee burst out laughing, shaking her head at Bella.

"Honestly, Bells!" She shook her head, "You disappoint me, thinking your mother would be _that _bad," Still laughing, she tugged the nets from her daughter and started to unfold them slowly, Bella watching her with a small smile on her face. "Come on, love," she flapped the curtains at her daughter, and both mother and daughter let out a soft and happy laugh, "Let's get these done, yeah?"

"Sure, mum," Bella laughed and Renee glanced out of the window to see that Jasper was gone. She let out a sigh of relief, more for the fact that she knew Bella, she knew what she was like, and she knew that Bella would be more likely to love him than anyone else she knew.

She needed the company, but that wouldn't be it, Renee knew, because Bella was the kind of girl who preferred her own company to that of anybody else's, yet Renee knew that when her daughter fell, she fell hard. That was what she was worried about, because if she was right about Jasper's age - and Renee reckoned she was, he would still be in his last year of school. And Bella would most likely be teaching him in less than seven weeks' time.

Bella would have registered this, she knew that was well, but her instant attraction to what appeared to be another lost soul, as Renee would term it, meant that she was blinded slightly by her desire to connect in a way she hadn't with other kids her age, and friends she hadn't found at University. She had Edward, she had Alice, but that was her limit, Bella didn't _need _friends, she needed a mate, a companion to join her as she grew older, and wiser. What Renee worried was that it would be Jasper, young, vibrant and just as awkward as her daughter, but not as old as her. And in the eyes of the law, of the general public, of the parents, Renee knew, any relationship other than platonic would be completely disapproved of.

When Renee finally left, Bella found herself at a loose end, looking at the half-unpacked boxes and the half-placed furniture, and feeling little other than irritation. She hadn't really realised that moving would mean so much concentration. Which didn't bode well for her first job posting at the local private school, where, she reckoned, she would have to make sure she paid attention pretty much every second of every day. Which would hurt.

She finally settled for ransacking her boxes, trying to find the old volumes of Victorian literature she would need for her first few classes, and when she failed to find exactly what she needed, she fell into an armchair and curled herself up ready for sleep.

"Hello?!" There was a knocking on her window, before she was able to even begin to lose consciousness, and she jolted awake, suddenly alive. "Bella, are you there?" The house was dark, but the damn voice was persistent, and she sighed as she looked at the clock. It was gone ten, and she wondered who would be calling at that time.

Clambering toward the door and tripping over more than one sheet of bubble wrap as she did so, she unlatched the chain and practically threw the door open.

"What the he-oh!" Her eyebrows weren't visible. She was a hundred percent sure that they had either migrated into her hairline, or were floating down toward the ground at some kind of pace, because they certainly weren't on her face any longer. "Jasper?" She reached around to flick the porch light on, and was met with the strangest sight ever.

Jasper Whitlock, holding out four pints of milk, and a box of tea bags, wearing a button down suit and a smart pair of trousers, his hair slicked back into what could only be called a 'court' style, as though he was about to attend a hearing. At ten in the evening.

"I'll say that again, what the hell?" She spluttered, looking over his handsome attire. There was nothing more she wanted to do now, than to pull him into her house by the dark blue tie he was wearing around his neck and ravage him so that he looked as though he had been dragged through a hedge backwards.

Part of her knew that would be a bad thing, however, so, instead, she went with her other option – to laugh herself silly at the situation. He looked, and was, utterly mortified.

"I-I'm getting fitted for my u-uniform... stupid place is making me wear a fucking suit... and mum wanted me to look smart... and I remembered you wanted the milk... and-" He shook his head and bowed it, feeling utterly stupid and very, very hurt.

"I-" She took deep breaths and tried to calm herself, though her success rate was low, and she feared that she would explode into giggles if he so much as looked at her the wrong way in the next few seconds. "Whooo," A deep, cleansing breath later, and she was back in the room, "Sorry, I just... I don't think I expected something so fantastic to appear at my door." He let out a laugh then, satisfied that the source of her humour wasn't him, but the situation.

"It's only a suit," He said softly, "I mean..."

"It's just..." She let out a weak laugh again, "You look as though you're going to court or something, it's kinda... I don't know, it's just out of place at this time of night. I'm not laughing at you, kiddo." She winked. "Come in, I'm totally out of it, tonight." She laughed again, and stepped aside, taking the bottle of milk from him and closing the door behind him. "You want a cuppa?"

"Me? No," He looked at her as she put the milk in the fridge, "I've got a hearing at half-past."

This time, it was her turn to splutter, surprised at the sudden admission he was making and the embarrassment she felt at assuming that when she was right... Until she heard the raucous laughter from behind her. She turned to see Jasper loosening his tie, his face reddening and his eyes watering as he clutched at his knees to stay upright.

"Wasn't that funny," She muttered sullenly, and he only laughed louder, trying to speak but not capable of taking the breath he needed to get the words out.

"So – funny... your face!" He laughed again, "Like you'd – been shot..." She stormed across the room and folded her arms in front of him, scowling furiously, until he collapsed back against the wall, both sobering, and straightening up, staring at her as though she was the meaning of life. His voice was the epitome of sincerity as he began to apologise, genuinely sorry, and horrified that he might have insulted her. "I... I was only joking, Bell-"

She couldn't keep up the furious pretence however, and her smile, no matter how small, gave her away, as the light tugging of the muscles at the corner of her mouth sent them both into another bout of hysteria.

"Are you going to stay for a drink, or are you just going to mock me?" She grinned again as she wrapped her arms around herself and looked over at him, he nodded and took her up on the offer of tea and mockery, their easy banter filling the silence of the house for god knows how long past midnight.

Jasper checked his watch and sighed as he realised the time.

"I've got to go home, Bella, I'm sorry!" He murmured, as he finished the last of his third coffee – they had long since abandoned the tea. "I've got a hot date tomorrow afternoon, and I've got to get my beauty sleep!" He winked at her, so she knew he meant their little afternoon organising, and practically sprinted around the kitchen, grabbing his abandoned tie, his jacket, and profusely ignoring her attempts to pay him the three pounds the groceries had cost.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then, Jasper?" She laughed, something she had been doing a lot that night, "I'll leave the back door open, come through the garden?"

"Ohkay," He nodded, then crossed the kitchen swiftly, kissing her lightly, but searingly on the cheek, the heat from his hot coffee making her cheeks far warmer than a simple peck would usually do. At least, that's what she assumed, as he whispered, "Sweet dreams," And, "Goodnight," and left faster than she could register what had happened.

She stood in the kitchen, her fingers pressed to her heated cheek, starting to question whether that had genuinely happened, as Jasper flew across to his own house, and slammed the front door closed behind him, his cheeks flaming with embarrassment and the escape he had made. He was humiliated, embarrassed, but the sudden rush of confidence he had felt had made him do it.

He'd touched her, and he had, most definitely, been burned.

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_**Enjoy? Let me know? **_

_**xxx**_


	4. Jazz Fantastic

_**Disclaimer: I don't own it, but I like to manipulate them. Tis fun.**_

_**Okay, let me know what you think, yes?**_

_**Enjoy...**_

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_**Jazz Fantastic**_

He knew what time he would go over – four thirty. He knew he would bring her something simple, like a photo frame, or coffee, he wasn't sure. He also knew that he would be able to help her with the DIY – she looked as though she wasn't going to be particularly good at the whole physical work thing, and her hands weren't big enough to work on two things at once.

He left the house at a quarter past, wearing an old T-shirt – one of his favourites, and a pair of black jeans that were worn through just right. He wanted to be comfortable, really comfortable in the middle of one of the more uncomfortable situations of his life. He made his way through the garden, almost tripping over more than once because the remnants of the fence were quite roughly distributed all over the place.

When he finally got to Bella's back door, he didn't expect to be assaulted by a song he thought he had forgotten, the melody soon to be forever attached to the afternoon that was to follow. He knocked on the window, calling out to Bella, but getting no answer in return. Worried more that she had injured herself in the middle of putting up the shelves, he stepped into the house and called her name again.

"Bella?" He looked around the room to see if she was trapped under any furniture. It would sound funny to anyone looking in on the situation, but it was something Jasper genuinely was fretting about. "Are you okay?"

"Jasper?" She called back to him a few moments into the silence, the lull of the song ending, and the sound system in silence for a few seconds giving her the perfect opportunity, "I'm in the kitchen."

"Okay," A pause, and he followed her voice, stopping in the doorway to the kitchen as he caught the distinct flash of flesh leaning against the sideboard. "Er... You do know you're topless, right?"

"I'm wearing a bra," She said, without looking up at him, her eyes trained on the cloth in her right hand and the shirt in her left. "I slopped my coffee on myself," He frowned, wondering if that was going to be the only mishap she had today, or whether he needed to wrap her in bubble wrap for the evening. "So I wet my shirt... and then," She sighed, "Just _bleh._"

"Right," He nodded, trying as hard as he possibly could not to stare at the way the purple contrasted neatly with her skin. Going to run a hand through his hair, he tugged his hat off and stuck it in his back pocket, frowning as he realised she still hadn't put her shirt back on. "I'll get you another?"

"No," She shook her head, her back still to him, "Don't bother," She stopped and turned back to him, promptly tugging the top back over her head. It gave him the perfect glimpse of the skin of her stomach, and the bellybutton piercing she had regretted from age fourteen until ten minutes ago, because the second he looked at the bar, he hadn't taken his eyes from her. "Jasper?"

"Hmm?" He blinked a couple of times and glanced up at her, running a hand through his hair once more. "Sorry, Bella, did you say something?"

"No, just wondered if you wanted a drink."

"So you _did_ say something..."

"Cheeky bastard." She turned and smacked him on the arm lightly, he laughed, "Or should I call you Captain Awesome?" Her eyebrow raised, she gestured at his shirt, and he immediately felt his face go bright red, his eyes looking everywhere but at her face. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, wearing something comfortable and familiar, but now he just felt childish. She was only messing with him, and had he been brave enough to look at her face, he would have seen the concern there that he was taking her so seriously. "Or..." She raised her hand to his chin, lightly knocking it so he would be looking at her if he dared lift his eyes, "Maybe I should call you Jazz Fantastic, because you offering to give me a hand today is exactly that."

"I-er..." He spluttered and ducked his head again, looking down at his bright green flip-flops. "I just didn't want you to be lonely." He murmured, and her heart caught in her throat. He sounded so young and vulnerable that she had to pull away before she did anything reckless.

"Come on," She smiled, "I'll even provide dinner if you're good at putting shelves up." She tugged at her hair, pulling it up into a simple bun, and grabbed his hand, pulling him up the stairs and into her spare room, the one that she wanted to double as a reading room. "As you can see," She waved her hand at the precarious shelf on the back wall, "I'm not very good at it. Are you?"

"Well," He laughed, though he didn't want to say no, even when he wasn't very good at DIY under normal circumstances, "I'll probably do better than you?"

"Exactly what I wanted to hear," She laughed, leading him to the corner. "Shelves, screws, drill..." She shrugged, "Go ahead, kid, make my day." She winked and turned toward the door, "I'm gonna go and get a couple of boxes, do you want a drink?"

"Yeah, okay," He smiled and nodded, lifting the drill and weighing it in his hand as he looked out for the brackets in the pack of shelves. "Cold, please, it's nice out today." She laughed and nodded.

"That's why I'm wearing the shorts," She laughed and he grinned, glancing down at the chequered fabric of her short-shorts. He had noticed that, but didn't want to mention it; just in case he was overstepping a boundary he wasn't quite sure of. "Oh, by the way," She said as she turned to the doorway, "I do like the shirt; I was only messing with you."

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Jasper pressed his hands against the wall and dropped his forehead to his forearm as he tried to calm himself down. He was hot and sticky and had been working in that condition for the best part of two hours. Bella had filled up the shelves that he had fitted in less than five minutes, and though she had begun to help him, he had found that having the shorter woman standing in front of him, her back pressed up against his, was not only a hindrance to his eyeline, because he was determined to glance down her shirt every time she leaned back and looked up at him, rather than looking at where he was drilling, but was a problem because the more she pressed up against him, the more he had to back away. She seemed determined to get closer to him as he tried to focus on the actual carpentry, but was completely oblivious to his problem as she pulled away, and declared that it was time for another drink.

"Jasper? Is your mum alright?" She called upstairs as he raised his head and adjusted his jeans for what felt like the thousandth time. "It's gone six, will she want you back for dinner?"

"She's out tonight," He called back, "She had an appointment that Sue took her too, and they were going to have dinner together..." He looked down at his watch, "I doubt she'll be back before ten tonight," He smiled and set the drill down, only now realising that it had been precariously close to making a sizeable hole in his left temple as he straightened up and moved toward the door.

"Okay," Her voice was closer than he had expected, and he saw her stumbling up the stairs with a big tray of drinks, "Do you want to sit in my room?" She gestured at the room down the hallway, and he nodded, grinning back at her, before he stretched up to pull his back a little and try to touch the ceiling.

"You have a lot of books," He said as he curled up on her bed at her insistence, she wouldn't let him be uncomfortable or make him sit on the horrible wicker stool she had by her dresser – he would end up with red welts on his legs before long, and the denim would irritate it. As he sat back, she quirked an eyebrow at him as a gesture for him to continue, but he melted under her gaze, "I mean... you've got a lot of... like a library or something." He grinned and she shook her head.

"I don't have many," She shrugged, "It helps to know what you're going to be teaching, you know? I mean, I've got a lot of ones from uni, ones that I've annotated to death, you know?" Jasper nodded but was struck by something she'd said.

"You're a teacher?"

"I will be," She offered him a half smile and shrugged, "You sound surprised, don't you think I could teach?" She shoved him lightly with her shoulder and he shoved back, laughing.

"You don't _look_ like a teacher, you know? None of the stuffy ones I know, anyway." A pause, "I could see you as one of those sexy ones, you know, the ones you see in por-" He closed his mouth and wrinkled his nose as he realised what he had been about to say. "Not that you look like a porn star, of course. You're gorgeous, but I mean, you're not a slut..." He dropped his head into his hands, the force of his movements making the bed shake and the tray in front of them move with it. Their drinks slopped and Bella had to lift the tray to stop her orange juice from spilling over the bedspread.

"Thanks, Jasper." She was laughing and shaking her head at the same time, "You know, you shouldn't put your foot in your mouth so often," A pause where she looked up at him and grinned, "And thanks for the backhanded compliment." She scrambled up on her knees and Jasper couldn't help but watch the way her legs shifted, and the muscles in her thighs contracted. He leaned over, picked up his drink and held it in his lap, thinking of _hospitals_, _injections_, _doctors... and nurses. Sexy Bella nurses._

He dropped his head in his hands again, narrowly avoiding spilling his own water on his jeans in a most conspicuous place.

"You okay, Jazz Fantastic?" She asked softly, looking straight into his eyes and accounting for the bright pink flush that was all across his cheeks. "You look a little warm... you're not ill, are you? I'm not-" She ducked her head and rose, and when she looked at him next, her eyes were filled with worry and concern, "Sit there, I'll get you a cold flannel..."

"I'm fine, Bella, really." She shrugged and continued onto the doorway. "You don't have to-"

"I'm just being careful, Jasper, nothing wrong with that, is there?" She laughed lightly and grinned at him as he looked at her, "Just stay there, make yourself at home." She grinned again and walked down the hallway to the bathroom, silently calling herself an _idiot_, a _moron_, and feeling completely silly for feeling remotely turned on by that exchange.

Telling herself to pull it together, she stopped in the bathroom and ransacked her cupboard for a pair of hair-sticks and a band as she let the water run cool and dropped the flannel in. As she let the basin drain, she flicked her hair into a bun and grinned at herself in the mirror as she slightly adjusted the chopsticks in her hair and returned to her room, flannel in hand.

Jasper had his hands behind his head and his eyes closed as he was sitting comfortably, reclining against her pillows as he waited for Bella to come back. He heard her come in, and he felt the cool skin of her hand brush his forehead as the mattress dipped beside him and she flicked his hair away, lightly pressing the damp cloth to his forehead.

"Jasper?" She whispered quietly, "Are you awake?" He kept his eyes closed, though his mouth was running dry at her proximity to him. He could feel her breath against his cheek, but tried to ignore it, taking slow breaths as the mattress dipped away from him and he assumed she had risen, "Poor thing," She said to herself, "Must have been so tired... I probably asked too much of you on a Friday night, didn't I?" He heard a drawer open and blinked his eyes open quickly to see her searching through her drawers for something. He watched, barely keeping a sudden gasp suppressed as he saw her hair up in a definite-sexy-teacher bun, and her previously coffee-soaked shirt was hanging on the stool, leaving her in a bra and those short-shorts. He looked at her in the mirror slightly, and smiled as she saw him watching her, her face reddened, the dark flush spreading down to her neck and beyond.

She ducked her head and picked out an old t-shirt, tugging it over herself awkwardly and biting her bottom lip because she hadn't meant for him to see. She hadn't meant for him to realise she was about to change, and she hadn't meant to be half-clothed when he had opened his eyes. He smirked as he sat up fully and watched her, waiting for her to turn around.

"You're evil."

"You're a demon harlot," Though his eyes were sparkling with mirth.

"I don't even know how old you are."

"Eighteen." He smiled at her, and her lips curved into a grin. "And you're nearly twenty three." She took a deep breath as he did the same, grinning up at her as he felt the atmosphere in the room change.

She sucked in a breath and took a single step forward at the same time as he knelt up on her bedspread. _He was kneeling at her height. Her lips were level with his. They were inches apart._ He watched her eyes close as she leaned in and he lifted his hand to her cheek as he stretched up.

"_Bellaaaaah!" _They practically exploded apart as the voice chimed in the background and Bella's flushed face told Jasper that this was not how she had expected to introduce him to whoever that was.

She buried her head in her hands and crouched down, resting on her heels as Jasper's hand found the space between her shoulder blades and his fingers massaged her gently, hoping she would calm down, and quickly, because he had no idea what to do.

"Bella? Who is that?" He asked as he swung his legs down from the bed, and pressed them to the floor. Quietly, she looked up at him, a deep blush in her cheeks and her eyes half-tearful, half embarrassed.

"Alice." She hissed, ducking again as the tinkling voice shrieked louder.

"_BELLA!"_ There were almost thundering footsteps up the stairs, though the woman that appeared was less than five feet tall, Jasper was sure. Bella dropped to sit by his feet and rested her head against his knees, closing her eyes as he slid his fingers into her hair and lightly scratched her scalp. There was no question as to what they had been about to do, and that thought brought the pair of them a little more intimacy as they sat there, waiting to be discovered by Alice. "Bella, what're you – Oh! Hello!"

"Hi," Jasper nodded, "She's here." He pointed down toward Bella, and Alice's eyes grew to the size of saucepan as he realised exactly where he was pointing, "No! I don't mean... Bella, help me out here?"

"Sorry, Jasper, you're doing fine on your own." She intoned from where she was sitting on the floor. "Alice, this is Jasper, he lives next door. He was helping me put shelves up, and we were just gonna order dinner." She looked up at him and smiled weakly, mouthing an apology as he shrugged and smiled back at her, his hand squeezing her shoulder then offering to help her stand.

"Oh! I'm really sorry, Bella." She paused and ran a hand through her hair, "Edward said you might be lonely, and I just wondered if you wanted to watch a movie or something-"She shrugged, "I guess you're busy," Bella looked at the tiny woman and true to form, she was giving off the puppy-dog pout to end all puppy-dog pouts. "I'll just go..." She sing-songed sadly, giving jasper a forlorn look at the same time. "After driving all this way to see you..."

"Oh, Alice," Bella sighed, shaking her head and throwing herself onto her bed, narrowly avoiding the empty glasses they had been drinking over half an hour before. "I suppose there's room for three," She glanced over at Jasper, who nodded, "In my living room..."

The pair of them looked at each other and laughed, smiles lighting their faces and Alice quickly running across the room and jumping onto the bed, alighting neatly between Bella's feet, but with arms flailing, smacking Jasper lightly on the back.

"Hey! Alice!" Bella called, "No beating up the hotties." She winked and Alice laughed back at her.

"That means I'm out of bounds, but you're fresh meat, right, Bells?" Jasper joined in quickly, laughing as she pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I think I should be offended by that." She said, when their laughter had finally subsided, "But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt," She laughed again, "By the way, Ali," the slight girl looked down at Bella and nodded, "How did you get in?"

She laughed and told her that in their haste to get upstairs, the duo must have left the door open, because it wasn't locked, and she took the liberty of shutting it behind her.

"Oh, well... alright." Bella laughed, but Jasper made a mental note to check every single room before he left tonight, just in case somebody had made their way in. "Dinner?"

"I'll be down in a minute, Bella," Jasper grinned as Alice made her way out of the door, but Bella hesitated, "but..." He stopped, unsure of what he was doing and really, really frightened about anything and everything that could lie ahead. "Come here?"

She complied, and he wrapped his arms around her, ducking his head and very slowly, very carefully pressed his lips to hers. She tasted like orange juice, he tasted like boy and home, and it scared them, because together, they had, even if they didn't know it, just crossed a line that had no way back.

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_**Opinions?**_


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